Cockaygne - Cockaigne - Cockayne - Cokaygne
Imagine a land where roasted pigs wander about with knives in their backs to make carving easy, where grilled geese fly directly into one's mouth, where cooked fish jump out of the water and land at one's feet. The weather is always sunny and mild, the wine and ale flows freely and all people enjoy eternal youth. Such is Cockaigne. Portrayed in legend, oral history and art, this imaginary land became the most pervasive collective dream of medieval times -- an earthly paradise that served to counter the suffering and frustration of daily existence and to allay anxieties about an increasingly elusive heavenly paradise.
Like Atlantis and El Dorado, the land of Cockaigne was a fictional utopia, a place where idleness and gluttony were the principal occupations. In Specimens of Early English Poets (1790), George Ellis printed a 13th century French poem called "The Land of Cockaign" where "the houses were made of barley sugar and cakes, the streets were paved with pastry, and the shops supplied goods for nothing." In Cockaigne, buildings and roads were made of food just waiting to be devoured and money could be earned even while one slept. Grounded in peasant culture, the tales of Cockaigne offered medieval men and women a way to cope with immediate concerns of famine and backbreaking work, as well as more monumental fears about heaven and the recently discovered New World. Over time, as food supplies increased and a more modern work ethic was established, such fears diminished and the stories about Cockaigne faded away.
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Dreaming of Cockaigne |
